skin melted off by a serum? (long post)
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Sat Feb 11, 2006 9:39 pm

hi, i'm new to the forum. i posted this elsewhere, but am not getting much response. not sure i'll get much here on a weekend, but here goes. Smile

about a month ago i used Skinceuticals Phyto+ twice on my face, for about an hour and a half each time, for inflammation from falling asleep with my makeup on. it ended up somehow taking millimeters of skin off mostly my cheeks, but the rest of my face looks a little thinner too. my cheeks used to look plump and high, giving my face a bright sculpted look. now my cheeks look sagging and slightly shrunken (you can tell from a profile picture comparison that the side curve is basically gone).

on some of my face i used emu oil underneath the Phyto as a buffer from overdrying. i was wondering now if maybe the emu oil, since it penetrates to the fatty layer, had potentiated the action of the Phyto by allowing it to go deeper in the skin than it normally would. my dermatologist said it only affects the epidermis and just dehydrated me. but it seems i've got a loss of skin because the slight puff at the tops of my cheeks is gone. the undereye area now blends straight into the cheek.

maybe the cheek skin was so damaged that the anti-inflammatory action took it down? but last august when i used the phyto that didn't happen. it just dried everything out a bit. or maybe i just need an overall tightening and rejuvenation to bring it all naturally and magically into balance (like a glycolic peel refined my face years ago, accentuating my cheeks more than they ever were)? when i pull the sides of my face to the sides, it seems more in balance. but the sides of my face aren't really more swollen than usual, not enough to throw the cheeks out of proportion.

if the Phyto damaged the fatty layer, my biggest concern, then i think it'd require filler injections to fix. i can't imagine some serum would necessitate yearly injections which my face may not even be able to take. maybe emu oil, which reaches the fatty layer supposedly, could restore it? yet, if it only damaged the dermis or just the epidermis, can laser indeed plump it as my dermatologist suggested might be possible? does laser plump up lost skin? or refine and tighten/shrink it? or shrink then plump? Smile

also, as far as nourishing products... on the phone, an esthetician(?) from EDS recommended Valmont Regenerating Hydrating Cream and Valmont BioRegenetic. i also wondered about Cellcosmet, or SkinMedica TNS Recovery Complex. so far i'm sticking with emu oil, and my derm is supportive of that. he said if it doesn't resolve itself, laser might help. he's just being very reassuring, so i feel left in the dark and depressed, worried that i'll be permanently disfigured.

i would appreciate any insight, thanks.

Sun Feb 12, 2006 1:11 am

Woa! That sounds scary! I can't quite see what in Phyto+ could do that to the skin. Kojic Acid is not an exfoliant. I also had the impression that emu oil is pretty gentle on the skin. I really don't know what to tell you here. The only thing I can think of is what you mentioned - your face might have been a bit swallen prior to this (with the inflammation etc) and the imflammation and swelling is now gone.

I don't use the Cellcosmet face moisturisers but I think the UltraVital might be a good choice. It is light but quite rich at the same time. It was really nice on my face but too rich for day time (I used it at night only). I haven't used the SkinMedica sorry. Another one I could suggest, mainly for inflammation and irritation, is Decleor Harmonie Essentielle - I use this for all sorts of rashes and irritations on my face and it's wonderful! Also, if I may suggest Rosehip Oil? Do a search for it online and see what the benefits are. It is supposed to repair damaged skin and also help reduce pigmentation. Kosmea (Aussie brand) has a really nice/cheap one.

free skin care · Sun Feb 12, 2006 10:59 am

This sounds all so complicated. Sorry this happened to you. It sounds like you damaged the support of your skin and when that happens, well....so much for that. Any time you irritate the skin, this is what causes sagging. I wouldn't use other products other than gentle cleanser and sunblock during the day. Forget the other stuff until your skin heals. You don't want to damage your skin further. Good luck!

Sun Feb 12, 2006 11:07 am

that's kind of what someone said on another forum. that maybe the uva ursi, which is a diuretic, took down some fluid in my skin, making it more normal. well, or to me, less 'normal' so i'd say if that's the case it should 'plump' back out in time. also, there is the cucumber and thyme which i believe are anti-inflammatory, so i bet they take down fluid too....

i just realized too, that i've got some enlarged pores all over (for some reason, and i hope laser will remedy that on a deep level), and now they are hardly showing. and if you look really closely you can see what i think are dehydration lines like my face was tightened out. so my face just looks really smooth (but also flat). it's just last time i got tightened from the phyto+ the contours weren't all screwed up - my cheeks weren't so flat so my face just looked kinda *nice* and tight all over after about a month of reactions subsided. and then it filled out over time, and the pores got enlarged from whatever it was (and falling asleep with makeup on once too).... so maybe it is just dehydration and the cheeks are just *more* dehydrated since i had fallen asleep with my (Cover Girl TruBlend) makeup, which i mostly only put on my *cheeks* and i have suspected can be drying anyway.... and yes, the emu oil is very gentle on me.

[these are the ingredients in case it helps:
Water, Botanical Glycosides, Uva Ursi Extract, Sodium Hyaluronate, Cucumber Extract, Thyme Extract, Bioflavonoids, Phenoxyethanol, Herbal Fragrance.]

thanks for the ideas and suggestions. this has got to get better...

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